Ezra

Aduaka's second film after the London-set 'Rage' tells of the experience of a child soldier (Kamara) who fights in a war in an unnamed African state, although the timing and setting recall the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. The film jumps back and forth from the bloody stage of this battle to a later truth and reconciliation hearing, during which Ezra stands against his relatives in the search for truth. It's an intelligent, cleverly measured film, but what's particularly interesting is how it treads a similar path as the recent 'Blood Diamond' yet steers clear of that film's failings. In 'Ezra', there's no Leonardo DiCaprio to lead us by the hand through both an exotic foreign landscape and a host of genre conventions. Instead, the film is raw and truthful. When an exploitative white character does appear in 'Ezra' he stays for a few minutes and is less poster-boy than grey, ugly and corrupt.